AN: Congratulations to those of you who guessed correctly. Enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling, thanks
CHAPTER 21: YEAR 3—THE FIRST DEMENTOR
Harry
"So it's definitely safe to say that your summer was a whole lot better than ours," Neville concluded after Ron had finished retelling the entirety of his trip to Egypt.
"Basically," he said, casually sitting back on his chair.
Harry grinned at him.
It was September the first and the gang was finally back together in their compartment, zooming further and further from King's Cross and closer and closer to Hogwarts at last. Harry and Neville had decided to sit back and allow Ron to have this chance. He and Ginny—though she too, mostly kept quiet and let him enjoy this—delved immediately into a detailed account of those entire two months, from the tourist sites to the food at the hotel to the legends about the tourist sites. Harry very much enjoyed seeing how excited Ron was about telling it, so he didn't want to ruin it with some more boring facts about this criminal that they were all supposed to be on the lookout for. All that could wait until later.
"So what did you guys do these two months?" Ron asked.
Harry and Neville exchanged a look and then shrugged.
"Just keeping to ourselves, really," Harry concluded for the both of them.
"Have you heard from Professor Lupin?" Ginny asked him in a small voice.
He smiled at her.
"He got back earlier last week. He says he's got his own place but he's still looking for a job."
"It's a full moon tonight," Ginny whispered.
"He'll be okay," Harry assured her, even though he himself did not quite believe it to be true.
His eyes however shifted from Ginny to the strange little creature sitting next to her. A rather small girl, the blonde continued to stare out the window sleepily (where the rain was pounding hard against the train), as though completely immune to these conversations. Her fingers were playing inattentively with the necklace around her neck, which seemed to be made of bottle caps. Her nails alternated colours and there was an ugly headband over her head. Luckily, she did not seem to notice Harry staring at her with a sort of disgusted look on his face. Unluckily however, Ginny had.
"Luna, you've met Harry before, haven't you?" she said, loudly and clearly so that the whole compartment now turned to face her.
Luna Lovegood looked away from the window and her eyes fell on Harry.
"Yes," she said, softly.
"No you haven't," Harry contradicted, in what he soon came to realise was an unnecessarily rude tone. He cleared it up with a cough and then gingerly added, "I mean, I'm sure we've bumped into each other in the halls."
Luna however, simply looked back out the window again, as though there hadn't been an interruption. Why was she sitting with them, other than the fact that Ginny had absolutely insisted, Harry had no idea. But the fact was, that she was there, and while she was there, he couldn't exactly discuss everything that he'd wanted to discuss—mainly the Marauder's Map—with his friends. It would just have to wait until they were safely in their dormitories, which meant that Ginny would have to wait for a detailed account until the next time the common room emptied early enough.
Ron quickly changed the topic of conversation to Quidditch and began discussing tactics with Harry and brainstorming who they thought would take up one of the open chaser positions this year, since the last chaser had graduated Hogwarts in June. Neville had obviously kept up the Remus character in him over the summer and instantly got out a book to read, while beside him, Luna continued to stare out the window. Ginny listened to Harry's and Ron's talks about Quidditch for a while, before she began to drift off to sleep, her head slowly landing on Harry's shoulder. And every little while, thunder rumbled in the background and lights flickered a few times. It was also considerably darker outside. Harry was not sure they'd ever had a wetter journey to Hogwarts.
At about half past noon (the rain having not stopped even a bit), the lady with the food trolley began to make her rounds, at which point both Ginny and Luna awoke and Ron began rummaging in his bag for the money he knew was not there. Harry found it hard ignoring this, but nonetheless insisted on buying the entire compartment sweets. Ron of course objected but Harry heard none of this and proceeded with buying the sweets. Everyone except for Ron—who continued to argue—accepted the sweets and thanked Harry. Ginny then got out a deck of cards and challenged Harry to a little muggle game she'd picked up over the summer. When she won every single round, Ron started accusing her of cheating, and the bickering began.
Harry meanwhile, turned his gaze back to Luna, who was still staring out the window dreamily. Neville had also noticed this strangeness about her but simply shrugged at Harry and returned to his book, Standard Book of Spells: Grade 5.
"A bit early, aren't you?" Ron asked after noticing the title of the book too.
"You can never be too early to start studying," Neville stated simply. "We'll have to read this someday, why not now?"
Ron rolled his eyes.
"You sound like Hermione—better stop hanging out with her so much or there'll be two annoying know-it-alls in Gryffindor."
"I thought you and Hermione had called a truce," Ginny pointed out.
"Unofficially," Harry told her.
"Oh like you and Draco Malfoy unofficially called a truce at the end of term," Ron reminded him.
Harry shrugged.
He hadn't thought of Draco Malfoy at all that summer and had completely forgotten about the so-called truce that they had made on the last day of term. But he was sure that if Pettigrew hadn't been all the rage that summer, Harry would have probably thought about it once or twice. He supposed that a madman going out on the loose would do the trick in distracting a person.
Thinking along the same lines, Ron instructed Ginny to take Luna elsewhere—"Go see your own classmates!"—so that the boys could discuss what they really wanted to discuss. Ginny, who looked absolutely appalled by this demand, dragged Luna out of the compartment and stalked off. As soon as the door was clicked shut again, Neville put his book away and sat up with Ron, both of their eyes on Harry. But Harry knew that there was one thing he had to take care of before they could even move the subject to Pettigrew.
"Are we having a repeat of last year?" he told Ron.
Ron frowned.
"I'm talking about Ginny," Harry clarified. "You kicked her out of the compartment last year too, if I remember correctly."
"Oh come on!" Ron cried, rolling his eyes. "Look, she's only my sister, it doesn't—"
"It does matter!" Harry contradicted. "She's your sister. Do you have any idea what I would give to have brothers or sisters?"
"It is rather dull being an only child," Neville pointed out in a small voice.
Ron rolled his eyes again.
"Okay, forget Ginny for a minute, before she and her weird friend come back," he said. "Let's talk Pettigrew."
"There's nothing to talk about," said Harry, dismissively, and he pulled the Marauder's Map out of his pocket. "Listen, I want to show you guys something that I got from Sirius."
"Whatever it is, it can wait!" cried Ron.
No, it really can't, Harry wanted to say, but he only sighed and pocketed the map again.
"Look, what do you want to know? I've already told you most of everything in my last letter."
"You haven't told me," Neville pointed out.
Harry sighed.
"Okay so basically, my dad let it slip one night that the name 'Wormtail' was strongly linked to Pettigrew, and I remembered all those stories he and Sirius and Remus told us about their adventures at Hogwarts and I put two and two together and basically realised that—"
"They knew Pettigrew when they were at Hogwarts," Neville concluded, nodding. "It makes sense."
"They didn't just know each other," Harry said, shaking his head. "They were best friends."
"Well yeah," said Neville. "That's what I meant."
"Blimey," said Ron. "And he betrayed them, right? That's what they're saying on the news."
Harry nodded. He wasn't sure exactly how he felt about this yet, seeing as how his family was refusing to talk to him about it at the moment. This was really starting to bother him.
"So why do you reckon he's escaped?" Ron wondered.
"It's obvious, isn't it?" said Neville before Harry could answer. Harry frowned at him. "Don't you guys know anything about Azkaban?" The boys shook their heads. "It is an extremely high-security prison. Its guards are said to be so beyond dangerous that there isn't even a word to describe them that would suffice…treacherous…deadly…and just pure evil." Ron shuddered. "They say that you go mad within two days of being there, because all happiness is literally drained out of you and you are left with nothing but sorrow and self-pity."
"Hang on," said Harry, as the compartment door slid open and Ginny re-entered (this time without Luna). "You say that the guards do this to you?"
Neville nodded.
"But then that must mean…wait, so they're not people, are they? The guards, I mean."
Neville shook his head.
Harry frowned. Was it just him, or was what Neville describing starting to sound a lot like…
His eyes went round and his face ghostly pale.
"Dementors?" he whispered in a hoarse voice, remembering his father's tales.
Neville, also shuddering, nodded.
And at that very precise moment, the compartment suddenly darkened, as the train screeched and halted to an abrupt stop.
"What's going on?" cried Ron, the shadow of his hand moving visibly over the window on which the rain was thickening. "Is…is everybody still here?"
"Yeah," they answered one by one.
The windows were now a solid, shimmering gray, which gradually darkened until, it seemed, all the lanterns in the train had flickered on and then died just as quickly.
"Maybe it's the storm," said Neville into the darkness.
The train suddenly rattled, making Ginny gasp. The rain continued to hammer and the wind roared ever so loudly. Harry jumped slightly as he felt a cold hand grab him, its small fingers intertwining with his. It appeared that Ginny had moved to sit next to him and was now leaning against his shoulder.
"I-it's okay," he told her. "We must be nearly there, that's all."
"I don't think so," said Ron, leaning forward to look at the now completely black window. The words had hardly left him when the train suddenly gave another jolt. "Guys…I...I think we've broken down."
"Are we in danger?" Ginny asked in a small voice.
"Everyone, calm down," came Neville's voice out of the darkness. "I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for why we've stopped early. Maybe they're out of fuel or something. Let's just…stay put and wait for further instructions."
"Seriously," said Ron, "Stop hanging out with Hermione. It's for your own good, you know."
Neville ignored him.
The four sat in silence for the next couple of minutes, each of them taking turns jumping when the train rattled or the thunder roared. An intense cold swept over them all and Harry saw the window slowly freeze over from the outside.
Sitting nearest to the door, he let go of Ginny's hand and got up to look into the corridor. All along the carriage, heads were sticking curiously out of their compartments. Distant thuds and bangs told them that compartment doors had slid shut. Then, without warning, all the lights flickered back on and vanished again, so that they were all plunged into total darkness.
"What's going on?!" said Ron's voice from behind Harry.
Harry felt his way back to his seat.
"Dunno…"
There was a squeaking sound, and Harry saw the dim black outline of Ron wiping a patch clean on the window and peering out.
"There's something moving out there," he said.
"I think someone's come aboard," Harry suggested. "I heard some bangs…like…compartments opening and closing."
Ginny's hand found his again and she squeezed it hard.
And then, the worst happened. The door to Harry's left slowly slid open at its own accord. Ginny almost automatically shifted closer to the window, away from the door, and Harry followed, while across from them, Ron and Neville did the same. They waited a few seconds, and then it appeared. Cloaked completely, the dark figure towered to the ceiling as it slowly moved its way into the small compartment. Its face was completely hidden beneath its hood and a slimy-looking, glistening grayish hand was protruding from the cloak. Harry's stomach contracted. It looked like something dead that had decayed in water rather than an actual human hand. But whatever it was, it was visible only for a split second. As though the creature beneath the cloak had sensed Harry's gaze, the hand was suddenly withdrawn into the folds of its black cloak. And then the thing beneath the hood drew a long, slow, rattling breath.
The intense cold seemed to pour into Harry's very skin. It was inside his chest…it was inside his very heart…he felt his eyes roll up into his head, drowning him in the cold. There was a rushing in his ears as though of water. He was being dragged downward, the roaring growing louder…and then, from far away, he heard terrible, scorching shrieks—almost like pleading screams—that strongly resembled that of his own mother's voice. Terrified, he felt a yell escape his own lips but did not seem to be aware of it. He had completely forgotten where he was and nothing mattered anymore—nothing except finding his mother, wherever she was, and helping her against whatever was making her scream so painfully like so.
"Harry! Harry! HARRY, ANSWER ME!"
Someone was slapping his face.
"W—what?"
Harry opened his eyes; the lights had turned back on and the train was moving again. He seemed to have slid out of his seat onto the floor. He blinked several times and then felt glasses sliding back onto his face and then everything came back into focus.
"S-Sirius?" Harry muttered.
He felt very sick—a cold sweat on his face now. Sirius pulled him to his feet with one hand and pushed him down to a seat. Beside him, Ginny was in tears and Neville had his arm around her. Ron was sitting on the other side, looking utterly terrified. Sirius sat across from Harry and continued to watch him with concern. Harry looked quickly toward the door. The hooded creature had vanished.
"What happened? Where's that—that thing? A-and the screaming?"
"I-it's gone," said Ron, more nervously still. "It left."
Harry looked around the bright compartment. Ginny and Neville looked back at him, both very pale.
"But I heard screaming—"
"That was you!" Ginny said quickly.
"N-no!" Harry protested, now quite aware that he must have also contributed to some of the screaming that he'd heard. "My…"
"It's alright, just take deep breaths," Sirius told him, pulling out a water bottle and splashing it on Harry's face, making the front of his shirt even wetter than it already was.
Harry shook his head violently and wiped his face on his sleeve.
"I'm okay," he said, but Sirius was now pulling out a large chocolate bar and breaking it into cubes which he proceeded to hand out to everyone in the compartment. Harry refused the chocolate but Sirius forced it into his hand and said, "Eat" in the boldest tone of voice Harry had ever heard him use. Harry did not need telling twice, and clambered the piece of chocolate into his mouth straightaway. He sat back in his seat, resting his head.
"I'm afraid your mother was right on this one," Sirius told him, sighing.
"But what was that thing?" he asked again.
"A dementor," Neville said, quietly.
Sirius nodded.
"Dementors?" cried Ron. "Here?!"
"They'll be at Hogwarts too," Sirius informed him. "Eat."
Ron nervously threw the chocolate into his mouth and chewed on it hard. Sirius turned back to Harry and mouthed the words "You okay?" Harry nodded, his eyes turning back to the door where moments ago, that dementor creature had been.
"Dementor," he repeated out loud, feeling a fresh piece of chocolate being forced into his hand.
Warmth suddenly began to spread through him, reaching all his veins and eventually his very heart. He looked round at Sirius and found him grinning.
"Eat," he instructed.
Harry ate, and then tried again.
"But what was a dementor doing here?"
"They're the guards of Azkaban," Sirius told the compartment at large. "They'll be stationed all over Hogwarts and Hogsmeade this year, in light of Peter Pettigrew's escape. It is the request of the Ministry, unfortunately. Tonight, they were searching the train for Pettigrew."
"But—"
"Look Harry, it's too many questions to be asking right after an almost-attack. Let's just…calm down for a bit and when we get to Hogwarts I'll explain everything to you, okay?"
Harry wanted to argue but suddenly felt too tired to do so. He nodded instead, and Sirius patted him on the shoulder. He got to his feet and made for the compartment door.
"Wait!" Harry called after him.
Sirius turned around.
"What on earth are you doing here?" Harry asked, somehow already knowing the answer before the grin spread across Sirius' tired-looking face.
"I decided to ride the train so that I could surprise you all," he told him. "I'm the new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher."
"You are?!" cried Neville and Ron together.
Sirius' grin widened.
"Yeah I was going to pop in shortly to tell you all…but then when the train stopped and I realised what was happening, I ran here as fast as I could. Listen, I've got to go. I need to talk to the driver."
"But Sirius!" said Harry, but Sirius only smiled at him, winked at Ginny (who was still whimpering into Neville's comforting arm) and mouthed "later" to Harry before disappearing from the compartment.
Ron, Harry noticed, had taken to unwrapping the rest of the chocolate bar that Sirius had left and clambered some more into his mouth. Harry was still and silent for a few more minutes before Neville motioned for him to take over Ginny, while he moved back to his own seat. Harry moved to sit next to Ginny and she took his hand in hers again.
"S-so," he said, addressing Ron and Neville, "Neither of you two heard it then? The screaming, I mean."
"No, mate, no one other than you screamed," Ron said, shaking his head.
Harry nodded and then turned to look back out the window again, not bothering to tell Ron that he was wrong. Harry had distinctly heard his mother's shrieks—he knew it had happened because he had never felt more horrified. It was as though his very heart was trembling with fear inside him.
The rest of the train journey was, on the whole, much calmer. Ginny had relaxed after a while and fell asleep against the ice-cold window. Ron forced Harry to play Gobbstones so as to distract him from the almost-attack, and Neville went to go and find Luna, finally returning an hour later with the news that she was in a compartment with fellow Gryffindor second-years.
"Might as well, she's really weird," said Ron, shrugging.
Finally, at long last, the Hogwarts Express pulled in to the rainy tracks at Hogsmeade Station. The gang, having already changed into their Hogwarts robes, pulled their trunks and their bags over their heads and, exiting the train, made a run for it. Harry did not even have time to greet Hagrid, who was waiting at the very front for the first-years.
By the time the students had reached the castle, they were all completely soaked from head to toe, along with their belongings. Their drenched shoes slipped beneath their feet as they all clambered into the crowded Entrance Hall. The door into the Great Hall stood open at the right; Harry followed the crowd toward it, but had barely glimpsed the enchanted ceiling, which was black and cloudy tonight, when a voice called, "Potter! Weasley! Longbottom!"
Harry and the gang slowly turned around to face Professor McGonagall, who was standing at the edge of the corridor, looking at them over the heads of the sea of students. They waited until their classmates passed before they slowly crossed the hall to greet her.
"Follow me," she told them. "There is no need to look so worried, Mr. Weasley—I just want a word in my office. Where is your sister?"
"She's probably already in the Great Hall," Ron mumbled as the group followed her through the corridors.
Once they were in her office, a small room with a large, welcoming fire, Professor McGonagall motioned for the three to sit down. She settled herself behind her desk and said abruptly, "Professor Black sent an owl ahead to say that you three had witnessed an almost-attack by a dementor. I am under the impression that you, Mr. Potter, passed out?"
Before any of them could reply, there was a soft knock on the door and Madame Pomfrey came bustling in, followed by Sirius. Harry felt himself going red in the face. It was bad enough that he'd passed out, or whatever he had done, without everyone making all this fuss.
"I'm fine," he said, quickly. "I don't need anything—"
"Oh, it's you, is it?" said Madame Pomfrey, ignoring this and bending down to stare closely at him. "I suppose you've been doing something dangerous again?"
"It was a dementor, Poppy," said Professor McGonagall.
They exchanged a dark look while Sirius went to sit at the armchair in the corner and put his hands behind his head. Madame Pomfrey clucked disapprovingly.
"Setting dementors around a school," she muttered, pushing back Harry's hair and feeling his forehead. "He won't be the last one who collapses. Yes, he's all clammy. Terrible things, they are, and the effect they have on people who are already delicate—"
"I'm not delicate!" said Harry crossly. "Why would I be delicate?"
He looked round at Sirius but he did not answer and he was not smirking at all.
"Of course you're not," said Madame Pomfrey absentmindedly, now taking his pulse.
"What does he need?" said Professor McGonagall crisply. "Bed rest? Should he perhaps spend the night in the hospital wing?"
"I'm fine!" said Harry, jumping up.
The thought of what all his classmates would say if he had to go to the hospital wing was torture.
"Well, he should have some chocolate, at the very least," said Madame Pomfrey, who was now trying to peer into Harry's eyes.
"I've already given him some," said Sirius. "I gave it to all of them."
"Did you , now?" said Madame Pomfrey approvingly. "Glad to hear our new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher knows his remedies!"
Sirius smiled at her.
"How are you two doing?" said Professor McGonagall, turning to look at Ron and Neville. "Neither of you fainted, did you?"
"No, we didn't," said Ron.
"We're okay," said Neville.
Ron nodded, though Harry admitted he looked a little green. Professor McGonagall seemed to be thinking along the same lines because she urged Madame Pomfrey to give him some more chocolate.
"Are you sure you feel all right, Potter?" Professor McGonagall said sharply.
"Yes," said Harry, who just wished everyone would stop treating him like some fragile kid.
"Very well then. You three may go back. I will go and find your sister, Mr. Weasley."
"Why don't I escort them out?" said Sirius, also getting to his feet.
Harry really liked the sound of that. He eagerly followed the others out of the office and down several flights of stairs until the group reached the Entrance Hall. McGonagall went into the Great Hall straightaway while Madame Pomfrey departed for the Hospital Wing.
"Blimey, I thought we were going to get into trouble for something," said Ron.
"To be honest, I thought so too," said Neville.
"Nah it's just standard procedure," said Sirius, reassuringly. "Dementors are really foul."
Harry didn't say anything, but made to follow his friends into the Great Hall when Sirius put a hand on his shoulder.
"Mind if we skip the feast?"
"Not at all!" Harry told him, gratefully.
He waved goodbye to his friends and followed Sirius down many corridors until they reached Remus'/McGonagall's old office. Sirius closed the door behind them and Harry collapsed on comfortable-looking couch at the center of the room. The office looked spectacularly cozy. Sirius lit a lamp and sat next to him.
"So McGonagall's going to take Transfiguration back this year?" Harry asked him.
"Yeah, that's the plan," said Sirius. "Look, I know you have a lot of questions so I'm gonna let you do what you have to do."
"Good," said Harry, sitting up. "Because the first thing I want to know is why the hell you didn't tell me that you're going to teach here this year?"
"Wow," said Ron after Harry had finished telling him, Neville, Ginny and Hermione the entire story of what he and Sirius had talked about in his office.
"I mean, wow," said Ron.
The group was huddled by the fireplace couches in the common room. It was already very late and everyone else had gone off to sleep. Hermione had meant to go too, but seemed a bit excited to see the group again and so she had decided to stick around.
"So Sirius is going to be teaching you how to repel the dementors?" said Ron.
"Yep," said Harry. "Looks like it."
"How do you do it?" Ginny asked in a small voice.
"The Patronus Charm," said Hermione and Neville together. They grinned at each other. "I've read about it," Hermione added. "It's meant to act as a sort of silver shield."
"I don't care what colour the shield is, as long as I don't get attacked again, now that these dementors are all over the castle," said Harry.
"Well I think it's very exciting that you'll be learning how to produce a patronus charm," said Hermione. "They're said to be really difficult to learn, even for grown wizards."
"Yeah, it's a good thing that Sirius will be teaching you," said Neville. "I'm actually relieved that he's the new teacher. I can't believe he didn't tell us!"
"Yeah, you and me both," said Harry.
"Alright," said Ron, clapping his hands together. "Let's stop this for tonight. Exploding Snap, anyone?"
"Yeah, for sure!" said Harry, who was relieved for the distraction from the day's unexpected events.
The group played for about two hours, stopping when it was already half past one in the morning. Then, Hermione and Ginny went up to the girls' dormitory and Ron yawned and announced that he was going to crash too. Neville made to join him when Harry tapped his shoulder. Ron stopped halfway up the spiral staircase, realising that they weren't following him.
"Y-you guys coming?" he said.
"Um," said Neville, looking from him to Harry and back. "No I think we'll stay for a bit."
"Okay," said Ron, rolling his eyes.
When he was gone, Neville turned back to Harry, nodded, and then took a seat on the couch.
"So what did Sirius say when you asked him about the screams you heard?"
Harry took a deep breath.
"He told me that when a dementor gets too near to a person, they start to suck all the happiness out of them…they start to bring back all their worst memories." He paused. "The screaming that I heard on the train was…my mother's. She had screamed like that on the night that Voldemort came to kill me."
"Wait, you remember that?" said Neville, sitting up.
"Vaguely," Harry corrected him. "I remember some red and green flashes. I remember lightning too. But I never knew about the screaming…until tonight."
Neville frowned at him.
"So when you asked Sirius why the dementor only affected you…"
"He said that it's because of that night…that it was a really terrible night and though the results weren't tragic, the rest of my life was really good so it's my worst memory. I guess you guys don't have memories like that."
"True," said Neville. "Although I think if I was present for my parents' tortures, I would have qualified tonight."
Harry looked at him nervously. It was the first time Neville had ever acknowledged his parents in front of Harry. Realising this himself, his eyes fell on the fireplace and he was still for a very long time.
"What are you thinking?" Harry asked, unable to wait any longer.
Neville bit his lip.
"It's just that…no one's ever told you exactly what happened that night, did they? Not your parents, not Dumbledore, not Sirius or Remus…you just kind of grew up knowing that you are the Boy Who Conquered and because of you and your parents, Lord Voldemort disappeared."
"So what are you saying?"
"I'm saying," said Neville, getting to his feet again, "That it's about time you asked the long overdue question."
Draco
"No way!"
"Come on!"
"Not happening!"
"Please?"
Hermione stared at Draco's puppy-dog face permissively and shook her head. The two of them were standing in the middle of the crowded station platform, amidst their fellow classmates saying goodbye to their parents. Hermione's had already left, and Draco's had not escorted him (no surprise there), so he had waited until they left before breaking the news.
"I can't just sit with you and your friends!" Hermione objected. "Look, it's just…it's not normal!"
"I have news for you, my darling," said Draco, also crossing his arms to mirror Hermione. "You are not a normal person."
"I—"
"No normal person spends their entire childhood reading 800-page books for fun. No normal person spends their free time trying to come up with news ways to be organised. No normal person—"
"Okay, I get it!" laughed Hermione. But when Blaise and Avery moved over to where she and Draco were standing, her face grew serious again.
"Do it for me?" he whispered.
He swore that Hermione had never looked more frightened in the entire time that he'd known her. But she took a nervous breath, nodded, and then turned to face his friends.
"Hey Draco!" said Crabbe and Goyle, who had joined on either side of Blaise and Avery.
"Hey guys, have a good summer?" said Draco.
"Yeah, it was great!"
"I went to Turkey with my dad…" Blaise's voice trailed off because he'd noticed Hermione was standing beside Draco without the slightest intention of going away. "Um, hi there."
"Hello," said Hermione, in a small voice.
"We've met before, I'm Blaise Zabini," he said, pointing to himself.
Draco gave him a thankful nod. He had spoken with Blaise about this before—about making Hermione a part of the group. His theory, though he had neglected to mention it to Hermione just yet, was that if his friends could step up and make her feel like a part of them, perhaps she would spend more time with them instead of her little Gryffindors. And then, it wouldn't matter that Draco couldn't meet up with her over the summers anymore. Hogwarts would be all that counted.
"Yeah I remember," said Hermione.
"And this is Atticus Avery but we all just call him Avery," said Blaise.
"Yes we've met before too," said Hermione, nodding at Avery who stared back at her, jumped at Draco's warning look, and then nodded in response.
The train suddenly let out a loud whistle and all the students began boarding. Draco grabbed Hermione's arm before she could attempt to get away, and said "Shall we?" to his friends so that they all boarded the train together. Blaise led them to the first empty compartment he could find and they each filed in, Hermione taking the seat nearest to the window and pushing Draco to sit down next to her.
"Do you uh…need help with that?" Blaise asked her, pointing at the carry-on bag she had with her.
"Oh," she said, slowly handing it to him. "Thanks."
He pulled the bag over his head and threw it onto the luggage rack above, then proceeding to do the same with his bag. Avery also did the same on the other luggage rack with first his bag, then Draco's and then Crabbe's and Goyle's. Finally, Blaise sat across from Hermione with Avery at his side, while Crabbe and Goyle were nearest to the doors. The group waited in complete silence, all of them either staring at each other or random points of the compartment, until the train gave another loud whistle and jolted to a slow start.
For the longest time, or so it seemed, the group was completely silent. Hermione and Draco kept exchanging looks but no one said anything. Then, Blaise casually leaned against the window, looking up at the sky.
"Man, it's really getting darker," he said, mostly to himself.
"They said there is supposed to be a rainstorm on the news," Hermione informed him.
"Who's 'they'?" Avery asked.
Draco kicked him hard on the foot.
"What?—I'm just curious."
"It's okay to be curious," said Hermione, giving Draco a startled look before turning back to Avery, "The muggle news forecaster. Muggles have all this technology, you see, that allows them to predict the weather for the next couple of hours…days…and even weeks…it's b-based on patterns."
"Wow," said Avery, casually. "Didn't know that."
"See? You learn something every day, don't you, Aves?" said Draco, smiling brightly.
Avery rolled his eyes at him and then leaned his head back against the seat. Hermione blushed slightly as she felt all boys' eyes on her, and then glanced back out the window.
"So," said Blaise, conversationally. "That Pettigrew man's sure stirred some trouble this summer, hasn't he?"
"Yeah," they all agreed.
Silence fell upon them again, and still, the sky outside grew darker and darker as the train soared forwards.
"Hogsmeade should be good this year," Blaise tried.
"Yeah, I'm excited for Honeydukes," said Crabbe.
"You would," said Draco and Avery together.
The others laughed. Silence again.
Why was it really all that difficult to string together more than a few sentences when Hermione was among them?
"Okay," said Blaise, finally sitting up and clapping his hands once. "So let's talk dark arts teachers. Anyone any ideas?"
Hermione gave Draco a pointed smile, and he buried his face in his hands.
So on the whole, it wasn't such a terrible start to the train journey. After a little while, the boys let loose (though not completely) and relaxed a little bit around Hermione. The group spent the first half hour avidly debating the possibilities for new dark arts teachers. Hermione did not end up mentioning Sirius, which Draco was extremely grateful for. He hadn't had the opportunity to explain to any of his friends exactly how Sirius tied into everything. He wasn't sure he wanted all of them to know. He knew that he would probably end up telling Blaise and Avery, but Crabbe and Goyle were just about the biggest mouths in all of Hogwarts. It'd be a bad idea to let them in on it.
By the time that the lady with the food trolley began making her rounds, rain was pounding hard against the train windows and the sky was significantly darker. In light of this, all of the train's lanterns were lit.
When the lady reached their compartment, Blaise motioned for everyone to sit back down and announced that he was buying the treats. Hermione protested this at once but Draco forcefully sat her back down.
"He's not the type of guy you want to argue with when it comes to this sort of stuff," he told her in a low voice as Blaise paid the lady. "Just…say thank you and enjoy."
"But I—"
"Trust me."
Hermione sighed and gave Blaise the warmest smile she possible could when he handed her a licorice wand and a packet of Bertie Bott's every Flavour Beans.
"Nah, it's no problem," said Blaise at once, handing Crabbe and Goyle their very favourite Chocolate Frogs.
"Draco?" he said, handing him two cauldron cakes.
"Thanks," Draco muttered, accepting them.
Avery grabbed a pumpkin pasty from Blaise and then sat him back down, laughing.
"So anyone know what Professor Lupin is up to these days?" Avery asked the compartment at large, though Draco spotted his eyes landing on Hermione for a fraction of a second longer than on anyone else.
"I have no idea," he declared.
The boys all turned to Hermione and she too, shrugged.
"I am not in touch with him," she added at the sight of Avery narrowing his eyes at her.
"Aren't you friends with Potter and the Weasleys?"
"Not really," Hermione admitted. "I mean…well, we're in the same house so obviously we bump into each other from time to time."
"Obviously," said Avery.
"But I'm not…we don't spend holidays together or anything like that."
"You're kidding," said Blaise. "I'd have thought you were all ready to parent each other's godchildren or something."
"What he means," said Draco, giving him a warning look before turning back to Hermione, "Is that you all look really close from afar."
"Perhaps you should get yourself a pair of glasses then?" Hermione suggested sweetly, a smirk cheating its way onto her face.
Blaise howled with laughter and Avery said, "Touché", while Draco went red in the face and stuffed a cauldron cake into his mouth. Well, at least he had managed to divert the conversation from the dangerous waters that it was headed towards, so that was certainly something.
After they had finished snacking, Blaise got a deck of cards out and began to deal Draco and Hermione, while Avery contented himself with reading his latest buy from Borgin & Burke's, much to Hermione's displeasure (which unfortunately, was clearly plastered all over her face). Draco silently cursed. His friends were really trying here, so why couldn't she put in some more effort? She had no idea how weird it was for them to be this normal. Usually, it was all talks about dark stuff that she wouldn't understand…or plans for playing tricks on Gryffindors…or killing them out on the Quidditch field.
When the boys finally grew tired of their games and rerouted the conversation to the topic of Quidditch, Draco signaled Hermione to follow him out.
"Where the heck are you two going?" said Avery.
"A walk," said Draco, simply, while he let Hermione pass towards the compartment doors.
"He means to say that they're gonna go make out like monkeys," said Blaise, casually.
"Don't make me hex you, Zabini," Draco said, glaring at him, but a little smirk still crossed his face as he followed Hermione out of the compartment. He was happy to know that Blaise had not changed at all over the summer.
Hermione, on the other hand, looked completely taken aback by what Blaise had just said, and Draco pointed this out as he shut the door behind them and began the search for an empty compartment.
"It's not like he said anything outrageous," he told her. "Come on, he was only joking."
"Still," said Hermione, shaking her head furiously. "It…it made me really uncomfortable."
"Why?"
"Well…because you're my friend! We're nothing more than that."
"I know," said Draco, his head peering into compartment after compartment as the train moved forwards.
"Does he?" Hermione pointed out.
Draco looked round at her, frowning.
"Yeah, of course he does. They all do. Look, it's like I said—he was only joking, okay? There is no need to make a bigger deal out of it. Holy, I actually found one. Here."
He pulled open a compartment door and Hermione followed him inside, taking a seat next to the window. He sat across from her and leaned his head against the seat.
"I didn't think we'd actually find an empty place," he told her.
Hermione still looked agitated.
"Um," said Draco, biting his lip at the question that he was dying to ask her.
"What?" she said, looking startled.
"W-what did you, um, think of them…of my f-friends…?"
Hermione gave him a small smile.
"To be perfectly honest with you, I liked Avery the best," she began. "Blaise was nice too—a little inappropriate, but all the same, nice. I'm not sure I care much for Crabbe and Goyle."
"Yeah, they're a bit dim," Draco told her. "Don't mind them. Half the time they don't even know where they are."
"I don't think that's true," said Hermione, turning back to the window upon which the rain was thundering hard.
"So you liked Avery the best? I mean, really?"
"Yeah, why is that so surprising to you?"
"Well," said Draco, slowly. "I actually hated his guts when I first met him. I guess I just never pegged you as...well...nevermind."
Hermione raised her eyebrows at him.
"People change, Draco."
"You certainly have."
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"Weaslebee's sister is your new besties, isn't she?"
"Oh shut up, she's really fun, okay?"
"Whatever."
Hermione sighed.
"Well I'm actually glad I sat with you boys. I was very nervous about it at first…"
"Really? Hadn't noticed," said Draco, smirking at her.
She rolled her eyes at him.
"I just…"
"You fit right in," he blurted out.
She paused.
"Did I really?"
"Like a perfectly-fitted glove," Draco told her, smiling again. "I didn't even expect it myself, but you really did fit right in."
"Thank you," she said, smiling sweetly at him. "That means more than you'll ever know."
They sat in silence for the next couple of minutes, and then Draco frowned at her.
"What do you reckon Pettigrew's escaped for?"
"I really don't know," said Hermione, also frowning. "It seems peculiar that he has somehow managed it after twelve years of imprisonment. I mean, if he had the means to escape all this time, why wait?"
"I heard mother say that she thinks he got help from someone."
"What, you mean like it was an inside job or something?"
Draco shrugged.
"Well, whoever it was that helped him, they are a dangerous and untrustworthy individual…and if they are working for the ministry or someone of high authority, that worries me a great deal."
After a short silence, Draco frowned at her again.
"Do you think you'll end up working for the ministry one day?"
Hermione looked taken aback by this question.
"I'm just curious," Draco added. "I mean, have you ever even thought about what you'd do after Hogwarts?"
"Sure I've thought about it," she told him. "And I know everyone thinks I'll go off doing something super prestigious because I'm a goody-goody with all these perfect marks in school. But I feel…a little rebellious."
"Rebellious how?" said Draco, suspiciously.
"I think it would just be wicked cool if I ended up doing something completely unexpected and shocked pretty much everyone who knows me."
"Like what?" said Draco, urgently.
"Oh I don't know," said Hermione, shrugging and blushing at the same time. "I haven't really given it that much thought. It's just an idea that I've had for some time." She paused. "What about you? Where will you be after Hogwarts?"
"Far away from home, that's for sure," said Draco, turning back to the thundering window.
He was just about to ask Hermione whether she'd be up to let Blaise or Avery join them on their next library homework session—as part of his grand scheme to make her one of them—when the train suddenly screeched awfully loudly and halted to a very abrupt stop, making both Draco and Hermione jump from their seats.
"What just happened?" she said, panicked.
The lights flickered for a few seconds before dying completely. Draco felt around in the darkness until his hand landed on Hermione's. She held it tightly but wiped a patch clean on the now completely black window. The rain was thundering ever so loudly, accompanied by the occasional lightning.
"It's probably just some technical difficulties, that's all," Draco told her, though he himself felt slightly panicked too.
An intense cold suddenly swept over them to the point where Draco could actually see Hermione breathing. The window itself began to freeze over before their very eyes.
"What the hell is happening…" Draco mumbled, mostly to himself.
The train suddenly rattled, making Hermione gasp. Draco quickly moved to sit next to her, and both of them leaned against the ice-cold window to get a better look. But the rain was pouring at such an accelerating speed now that they could hardly tell what was happening outside. The train gave another sudden jolt and there was a loud bang somewhere.
"I'll go check it out," Draco told Hermione, trying to let go of her hand, but she held onto it hard and got up with him.
"I'll go with you," she said, her voice trembling slightly.
They felt their way through the completely darkened compartment until they reached the door.
All along the carriage, heads were sticking curiously out of their compartments into the darkness. Distant thuds and bangs told them that compartment doors had slid shut. Then, without warning, all the lights in the corridor flickered back on and vanished again, so that they were all plunged into total darkness. Another loud bang sounded from the end of the corridor and Draco and Hermione quickly hurried back into their own compartment and sat nearest to the window again.
"I think someone's come aboard…" Draco told her in half a whisper.
It seemed like they sat there in the darkness for the longest time, both of them trembling slightly, not from the cold, but from the fear. They remained quiet as they waited—for what, they didn't know. They just waited.
"We should go and check on your friends," Hermione whispered into the darkness a while after.
"No, we should stay put and not go wandering," Draco contradicted.
Hermione made to argue, but was suddenly silenced by a terrible sight from out of the compartment. The hideous-looking, slimy, foul-smelling creature slid open their compartment door and hovered in the corridor for a few long seconds. Hermione let out a small whimper but Draco's hand flew to her mouth to silence her. He had a strong feeling that this creature, whatever it was, could not see, because it was hidden beneath a long black cloak completely, and did not seem to have any feet supporting it. A terrible, slimy hand etched out of its cloak however, and closed the compartment door again. The creature moved down the corridor, and Draco's hand slowly slid away from Hermione's mouth. She let out a trembling breath.
Draco wasn't sure how much time passed since the creature had left them, but eventually, the lights came back on and the train slowly began to move forwards again. Hermione, looking completely shaken, accepted the candy that Draco had pocketed from a few hours before. She chewed on it quietly, while Draco stared out the window at the thundering rain. Then, Hermione spoke up, very, very quietly.
"It was a dementor."
Draco turned his head to look at her.
"How d'you know that?"
"I've read about them. They're…the treacherous guards of Azkaban."
"They guard Azkaban Prison?!"
Hermione nodded her head slowly, her eyes on the ground.
"Whoa," breathed Draco. "That's…"
"A scary thought, yeah," Hermione agreed.
"I've never heard of dementors."
"They're…they're thought to be the foulest creatures to exist upon this earth," she said, even more quietly.
"What do they do?" Draco dared to ask, not sure that he wanted to know the answer.
"They suck your soul out of you until you are left with just an empty shell," Hermione said. Draco shuddered at these words. "They target all your happiest moments—every glorious memory…and they leave you with all the bad ones…all the tragedy. It's like food for them. They feed on your happiness…like…like…"
"…demons…" said Draco, nodding.
The thought of his aunt or Sirius' brother being in Azkaban at that very moment, surrounded by hundreds of those terrible creatures, made Draco sick to his stomach. He wouldn't wish that upon anyone—not even his greatest enemy. But then, this meant the things they had done must have been really terrible to land them in such a horrifying place. That was not a comforting thought either.
Draco suddenly glanced at Hermione and saw that she still looked shaken, and a tear even escaped her left eye. Putting his troubled family aside, Draco sat up suddenly.
"Hermione," he said, "Tell me about the Medieval Assembly of European Wizards again? I've completely spaced on it and Binns promised to test us on it more this year."
Hermione, who looked completely taken aback by this sudden randomness, agreed nevertheless and proceeded with the enchantingly boring tale of the Medieval Assembly of European Wizards. Draco however, let her ramble on about it, knowing perfectly well that it was what she needed right now. The tale carried her all the way through the rest of the journey, until the Hogwarts Express finally pulled in to Hogsmeade Station. The pair hurried back to their old compartment to get their bags. Then, bracing themselves, they all hurried out of the train and ran for the carriages that would take them up to the castle. The trouble was, everyone had taken to the same idea.
Draco felt himself being shoved and pushed among the sea of students all screaming under the pouring rain. Hermione seemed to have been pulled to the other side of the station because he lost sight of her completely, along with Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle. He boarded one of the random carriages with Avery and a few Ravenclaw students, and braced himself against the pouring rain.
Arriving at the front steps of the castle at last, the students hurried inside, all of them soaked from head to toe. Draco caught sight of Hermione getting off one of the carriages with a group of Hufflepuffs, and waved goodbye to her as he felt himself being pushed into the brightly lit Great Hall. He and Avery automatically made for the Slytherin table and waited a long while as everyone else filed into the Great Hall, before they finally spotted Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle moving towards them.
"Bloody ridiculous out there!" hissed Blaise, who was splattering raindrops everywhere as he shook his head violently.
"Careful there, Blaise!" Avery cried, wiping the small puddles from the table.
Although they were practically starved, the students had to wait until after the Sorting Ceremony before they could eat. This year, for some strange reason, Professor McGonagall was absent for the ceremony, and so Professor Sinistra—the Astronomy teacher—had to take over instead. It was a rather dull affair, and Draco found himself tuning out for most of it. His eyes instead landed on the staff table, for which he searched a familiar old face. Snape met his eyes and gave him a small nod. Draco smiled at him. He had missed him, over what felt like too long of a summer break. Draco then proceeded to scan the staff table, hoping to find a new face that would indicate the new dark arts teacher. But none of the faces there were new, and in fact, three chairs (one of them presumably the new teacher's) were empty. Draco gave a slight jump when Avery nudged him on the shoulder, indicating that the ceremony had ended and the food had appeared on the tables.
At that moment, the doors to the Great Hall opened again and in came Professor McGonagall, looking stern and bold as usual. She hurried over to the Gryffindor table, followed by Weaslebee and Longbottom. They took their seats, while the Weasley girl got out of hers and followed McGonagall out of the Great Hall once more. Potter, Draco noticed, had failed to make an appearance so far.
"Huh," said Avery, also noticing this, "Oh well. Maybe he's transferred to another school."
Draco rolled his eyes at the ridiculous suggestion. Hogwarts was like Potter's kingdom. He would die before he moved to another school.
When the desserts were finally served, Dumbledore got to his feet to do his usual speech where he reminded the students of the rules they were not to break, and also introduced new teachers. Again, Draco tuned out for most of this. He wasn't interested in hearing any of it. He found his eyes landing on the Gryffindor table again, where Hermione was sitting with Longbottom and he was apparently whispering into her ear.
"Now as you all know," said Dumbledore to the room at large, "Hogwarts will, until further notice, play host to the dementors of Azkaban, until such time that Peter Pettigrew is captured. Now, whilst I have been assured by the ministry that the dementors will not disrupt our day-to-day activities, a word of caution—dementors are vicious creatures and will not distinguish between the one they hunt and the one who gets in their way. Therefore I must warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. It is not in the nature of a dementor to be forgiving."
Draco gulped nervously at these words, as he knew everyone else in the Great Hall must have done. He got a strange, eerie sort of numbness when he even heard someone mentioning the word 'dementor'. He really did not fancy finding out just how unforgiving the foul creatures could be.
"But you know," Dumbledore continued, more brightly now, "Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light."
"What the bloody hell is he talking about now?" Avery hissed into Draco's ear.
Draco grinned at him, his eyes landing back on Hermione across the hall. She looked slightly disturbed by Dumbledore's description of the dementors. Beside her, Longbottom whispered something again and she nodded her head. Draco found himself itching to find out just what they were whispering about.
"…and finally," came Dumbledore's voice again, loudly, "We are pleased to welcome a new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher this year, who is unfortunately absent from the feast tonight, due to personal affairs. I am sure you will all join me in welcoming him around the school halls tomorrow—Professor Sirius Black."
Draco's eyes snapped up to where Dumbledore stood at the front.
Did he just say what Draco thought he'd said? Had he heard him right? Was it really true? He looked round at Hermione across the hall, and she beamed at him from her table. Yep, it was true. And suddenly, it was as though Draco had known all along that this would happen, but had just managed to live in denial. Hermione had been right—last year was definitely going to be nothing compared to this year. And if Snape ended up being the Potions teacher for the Slytherins again, it would be a golden year.
As the feast came to an end and the boys made their way to the dungeons, Draco found his spirits incredibly lifted. Why couldn't Sirius have told him in the letter that he'd applied for that teaching position? Then at least he'd have had something to look forward to—something to keep him going through the dreadful summer.
"Legilimency," Marcus Flint uttered the password, waved hello to Draco, and then moved to a corner of the common room with his group of seventh-years. Draco collapsed on one of the large green couches at the center of the room, and Blaise and Avery collapsed right across from him. Crabbe and Goyle resorted to taking seats on the carpeted floor because all the couches seemed to be occupied within seconds. Everyone was really tired from that run in the rain.
For the first little while, Draco just sat there with his eyes closed and his head rested on the couch's back, listening to all the conversations happening around him. Avery was telling Blaise about something that he'd seen at Borgin's shop a week ago. Crabbe was asking Goyle how to get from the Astronomy Tower to the Divination room. Everyone else, it seemed, was discussing one thing and one thing only—Peter Pettigrew.
"I bet that's why the dementors searched the train," some girls were saying.
"I heard that Pettigrew escaped Azkaban to go become the new Dark Lord," some boy said.
"What if he ends up coming here? You know he used to be a student here…"
"I overheard Professor McGonagall saying that he was a real git when he was at school here."
"Maybe he was just pretending."
"I hope those dementors don't bother us in our Quidditch matches."
A soft smirk crossed Draco's face. He didn't need to have eyes to know that it was Marcus Flint who had uttered that last statement. Though, now that he thought about it, it would be quite disastrous if those dementors interfered with their Quidditch games.
Suddenly, someone threw themselves onto the seat next to him, and Draco's eyes flew open. Pansy Parkinson was sitting on the couch with him, her green eyes staring at him with curiosity.
"Can I help you?" he said, resting his head back on the couch.
"Wondering what's up with you, that's all," she said, simply.
"How d'you mean?"
"You look ill."
Draco frowned at her.
"I'm fine," he said. He certainly felt it. He had no idea what she was talking about.
"Whatever you say," she responded, sitting back on the couch.
Draco stared at her for a good couple of seconds before he said, quite boldly, "You know, I'm actually kind of tired."
"Mm," said Pansy, looking around the common room. "Yeah, I'm kind of tired too."
Draco stared at her. Was this girl just not getting the hint?
"Okay," he said, getting up. "I'll go to bed then," he added, looking round at Blaise and Avery who nodded at him.
"Oh good," said Pansy, spreading her legs on the couch where Draco had sat moments ago. "I was hoping you would say that. Otherwise, how would I get you to move from the couch?"
Draco stared at her. What nerve this girl had!
"Right," he mumbled, giving a short wave to his friends and departing for the dormitories.
He really didn't fancy having this argument tonight with anyone. It had been a really long day, and to think that he had been home just that morning!
After he'd changed out of his school robes, Draco scrambled into bed and turned his head to look out the window, where the rain was still pouring heavily. He felt that he could not stop himself smiling. Sirius was here. He was actually here, in the castle, for the year. He was going to be teaching here, eating here, and sleeping here. The thought of being taught defense against the dark arts by Sirius—the thought of being able to bump into him at any point…made Draco smile happily. Who knew that Hogwarts could get a hundred times better, simply within a matter of hours?
And as Draco drifted off to sleep, he found himself thinking…once, just this once, it felt really, really good to be proven wrong by Hermione Granger.
Thanks and don't forget to review!
A reply to Luna: Your review made my day so thank you for that :) I can promise you that there will be no original characters at any point throughout this story. I plan to bring out the canon underdogs. I'll try to update at least once a week, but between work and classes, I'll be fairly busy. I do promise to finish this story. I would never give up on any story. And lastly, with regards to the Dementors, yes, you assumed correctly, as I'm sure you've noticed by the title of this chapter ;)
A reply to DaOneInDaCorner: Draco's not "poured rat poison into his parents' drinks" by now because he's not mental. But thanks for your inquiry! :/